Delia Smith’s pesto rice salad cooks arborio rice in vegetable stock with some of her home-made basil pesto, then tosses it with more pesto, lemon juice and olive oil. Spring onions, torn basil and Parmesan shavings go over the top, and it feeds 4 to 6, warm or cold, in about 40 minutes.
It first appeared in her Summer Collection (1993), where she urged readers to try this “cross between a salad and a risotto”. The trick happens in the measuring jug, where part of the pesto is stirred into the dry rice before any stock goes on, so every grain starts out coated.
She uses arborio, the risotto rice, whose grains are rounder and much plumper than long-grain, and the lemon juice stirred in at the end keeps the pesto tasting bright. What you get is soft, green-flecked rice with a sharp lemon edge, salty Parmesan and the bite of raw spring onion.
Delia Smith’s Pesto Rice Salad
Course: SaladsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes25
minutes485
kcalThe Vegetarian Collection (2002) version, page 37, which writes out her home-made pesto in full: basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan. These ingredients make one batch for 4 to 6 people.
Ingredients
- For the pesto:
50g (2oz) fresh basil leaves
1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon pine nuts
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
25g (1oz) Parmesan, grated
- For the rice:
225ml (8fl oz) arborio rice, measured in a glass jug
450ml (16fl oz) hot vegetable stock
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the garnish:
a few torn basil leaves
4 spring onions, finely chopped
25g (1oz) Parmesan shavings, made with a potato peeler
Directions
- Pesto: Blend the basil, garlic, pine nuts and oil with a pinch of salt until smooth, then stir in the grated Parmesan. Without a blender, pound the basil, garlic and pine nuts to a paste in a large pestle and mortar, work in the salt and cheese, then add the oil a little at a time.
- Coat: Measure the rice in a glass jug, add about a quarter of the pesto and stir until every grain is coated.
- Heat: Tip the rice into a frying pan with a 25.5cm (10in) base and a tight-fitting lid. Pour the hot stock into the jug, then over the rice, turn on the heat and stir with a wooden spoon, adding 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Simmer: As soon as it boils, put the lid on, turn the heat down to low and cook for exactly 20 minutes.
- Toss: Tip the rice into a serving bowl, add the lemon juice, olive oil and the rest of the pesto, and stir and toss until it’s all combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Garnish: Scatter the torn basil, spring onions and Parmesan shavings over the top. If you’re serving it cold, add these just before it goes to the table.
Notes
- Delia makes the stock with Marigold Swiss vegetable bouillon powder, though a stock cube or home-made stock works just as well.
- Without a 25.5cm frying pan, a wide, shallow saucepan with a lid does the same job, as her 1993 recipe allows.
- If it isn't eaten warm, cool the rice within about an hour, keep it in the fridge and eat it within a day, as the Food Standards Agency advises.
FAQs
Pecorino or Parmesan in the pesto?
Either works, and Delia has used both. Her original pesto in the Summer Collection asks for Pecorino Romano, which she finds gutsier than Parmesan, with Parmesan as the fallback, while the 2002 Vegetarian Collection version simply uses Parmesan.
If you’re cooking for vegetarians, check the label, because traditional Parmesan and Pecorino are both made with animal rennet. Most supermarkets sell a vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese that grates and shaves the same way.
Can I use ready-made pesto?
You can, though in 1993 Delia felt home-made puts the ready-made kind in the shade. By 2008 her How to Cheat at Cooking was using a 150g tub of green pesto from the chilled cabinet for a pasta dish, so it’s a shortcut she has taken herself.
One 150g tub is close to a full batch of her pesto, which is my own estimate, so use a quarter of it with the rice and the rest at the end. A sun-dried tomato pesto works the same way if you’d like a red version, which is my own swap.
Can I serve the pesto rice warm?
Yes, and that’s how Delia serves it as a first course. In the Summer Collection she also suggests it warm with fish or chicken main courses, and she pairs half a batch with her chilled marinated trout with fennel for two.
Bring it to the table as soon as the garnish is on, while the rice is still soft. Leftovers are better eaten cold the next day than reheated, which is my own rule for cooked rice.
Can I make it for a party?
Yes, and Delia scales it up herself. Her summer buffet party for 18, which includes vegetarian choices, makes the pesto rice salad three times over, alongside salmon steaks, oven-baked parmesan chicken and a fetta cheesecake.
I’d cook each batch on its own, which is my own advice, because three times the rice won’t sit in one layer in a 25.5cm pan. Toss each batch with its share of pesto and lemon, then pile them all into one big serving bowl.
How is it different from her brown rice salad?
It’s a different kind of rice salad altogether. Her brown rice salad from the Complete Cookery Course uses long-grain brown basmati, simmered for 40 minutes and mixed cold with apple, walnuts and currants.
This one uses arborio, cooked with pesto already through it, and it’s as good warm as it is cold. Both make a big bowl for a buffet, so I’d happily put them side by side.
